The Real Reason - SasuNaru
by Harib0fizzz
Summary: Sasunaru, Kibahina, Leesaku and maybe more? Sasu and Naru knew each other for a while, but are they just friends?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters! I'm sorry if I don't update that much but I will try to as much as I can!**

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**The Real Reason**

It was a cold winter night, and Naruto Uzumaki looked out of the window watching the snow falling. He was lost in thought, and didn't realise that the number one smartass Uchiha was walking past his house. When he _did_ notice Sasuke, two things crossed his mind. One – why was he walking past Naruto's house when he lived on the other side of the village, and two – what was he doing alone? For as long as Naruto had known him, Sasuke had been so popular with the girls – and some boys - that no matter how much he despised them, the fan club would be by his side, trying to be acknowledged. Sasuke stopped and looked up to Naruto's bedroom window, small snowflakes resting in his perfect duck-butt hair. Naruto considered hiding so he wouldn't be seen, but it was too late. The young Uchiha stared at him with startling black eyes, and Naruto found it impossible to look away. But the moment ended rapidly, as Sasuke smirked and carried on through the snow. The blonde boy stared after him for a moment, then he shook his head as if waking up from a trance. Then he closed his curtains and wondered about the Uchiha-kid until he fell asleep.

Naruto was a bundle of nerves. It was the last day of the holidays, which meant he was going to start high school the next day, and he was dreading it. He knew some of his friends were going to the same school as him, which comforted him a little. Other than that, Naruto had no idea what it was going to be like. The normally hyperactive destruction boy was now worried out of his mind. So he decided to go for a walk to calm him down. He turned the corner and found a girl a few years older than him, sitting in the grass crying. Naruto was shocked, but he sat down beside the girl.

"Umm…" The girl looked up and wiped her eyes.

"W-who are you? I don't think I've seen you before," Naruto asked her kindly, trying to be as friendly as possible.

"My name…is Haku," the girl looked Naruto in the eyes, "and please don't freak out when I tell you that I'm a boy."

Naruto was quite shocked; this apparent boy looked so feminine that Naruto couldn't have guessed if Haku hadn't told him. The fact that Haku was wearing pink also made her-…er….him more girly.

"And you are?" Haku smiled slightly at Naruto's reaction, for he always found it amusing to see how people would handle the fact that he was of the male gender. He could tell that Naruto was still trying to work out if he really was a boy or if it was just some kind of lame joke, but Haku noted the fact that the blonde boy hadn't gone running round the corner screaming yet, so that was promising.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" The boy jumped up and struck a pose to emphasise his name, and Haku laughed as Naruto was grinning from ear to ear. Making Haku laugh after Naruto found him crying was, to him, quite an achievement, especially considering they had only just met. "So…um…why were you crying?" Haku looked at the younger boy for a while before answering.

"I…I…no reason," Haku avoided eye-contact by looking down and pulling at the grass by his feet. Naruto was about to tell Haku that it was okay, and that he could be trusted, but something interrupted him. Naruto had the horrible sensation that he was being watched, and looked round until he could see a small white dog running towards him, and a boy yelling after him. But that feeling was still there. Then he saw a flash of dark-hair disappear round a corner, and decided to go and investigate. Both Naruto and Haku stood up and went round the corner, to find a girl about Naruto's age – he was sure it was a girl this time – with long dark-purple hair and strange, pearly-white eyes. Haku was wary of this girl, but Naruto stepped forward.

"Hello!" He said with a beaming smile. The girl blushed, and nodded her head in acknowledgement to his greeting. When Naruto realised she wasn't going to say anything without prompting, he continued. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and this is my new friend, Haku." Naruto gestured to the feminine-looking boy standing next to him. Haku was slightly surprised that Naruto had already said they were friends, but it would be nice for Haku to have a friend. For some reason, the boys in his class didn't want anything to do with Haku at all. But before Haku could say anything, the younger girl looked up.

"M-My n-name i-is H-Hinata H-Hyuuga," The girl stammered, blushing slightly. Haku could see that Hinata was a very shy girl, and she probably didn't have many friends either. He felt sorry for her, but he masked his emotions (something he had learnt to do and was now very good at it). Naruto realised that the feeling of being watched must have been from Hinata, hiding round the corner, so he shook the feeling away and started talking with Hinata and Haku instead.

Sasuke Uchiha had a lot of expectations to live up to, as he was the second son of the head of the Uchiha household, and his older brother was legendary. Itachi Uchiha was the pride of the clan, but Sasuke didn't want to be hidden in his big brother's shadow. He wanted the high praise that only Itachi could ever win, and so Sasuke felt he had to train much more than everyone else, which he did. He just hoped that tomorrow, he would be able to make enough of an impression that his classmates would leave him alone to continue being at the top. As long as nobody got in his way, everyone would get along just fine. The young Uchiha just hoped that he wouldn't be in the same class as that annoying brat, Uzumaki. They didn't know each other very well, but from what he could tell; Naruto was the loudest and most obnoxious kid he had ever known. Sasuke sighed and looked at the time. 5 minutes past midnight. He should really get some sleep, but, even though he never admitted his emotions to anyone, he was slightly nervous about starting high school tomorrow. He shook his head and then climbed into his bed, ignoring the dread and panic that was starting to enter his mind.

* * *

It was the first day of school, and Haku had offered to walk with Naruto and Hinata, to show them around the building before class. After ignoring the familiar wolf-whistles that the boys in Haku's class gave him (this was one of many ways they mocked Haku for how he looked), the three students walked through the gates, and the two younger kids stared in awe at the sheer scale of the school. It was one of the biggest buildings in the village, and most of the children in the village went here. Some got tutored privately, but, in Naruto's opinion, they were just missing out. Then Hinata noticed someone coming their way, and tried to hide behind Naruto.

"Hey, Hinata, what's wrong?" Hinata just shook her head and tried to keep out of view. Of course, it didn't work.

"Hinata. Over here." A group of people with the same white eyes as Hinata were calling to her.

"It's Lady Hinata to you! Have you no respect for the main family?" A tall Hyuuga snapped at them. They mumbled something and went back to talking amongst themselves. The Hyuuga who had spoken walked over to the two younger students, as Haku had excused himself to go into school already. When the Hyuuga was near them, he stopped. "Lady Hinata, if you would like me to accompany you-"

"No thank you, Neji. I would like to stay with my friend, Naruto." Realising that he was being introduced, Naruto stepped forward and smiled.

"Nice to meet you…Neji, was it?" The blonde looked harmless enough, but Neji didn't think he could protect Hinata. Still, he kept these thoughts to himself as he nodded his head, in the same way that Hinata had done when she met Naruto.

"Well, if you are sure, Lady Hinata." Neji replied, hoping that the other Hyuuga students would have the manners that he did. Excusing himself, Neji walked back to the group, giving them a lecture on the proper way to address the members of the Hyuuga household.

Suddenly, Naruto and Hinata noticed that a strange quiet had fallen on all the students around them. They looked to the gate, and saw none other than the famous Sasuke Uchiha, striding in looking like he owned the place. Hinata knew that this boy was the heir to the Uchiha household, as she was the heir to the Hyuuga household. Each household liked to think that they were better than the other, and the Hyuuga group automatically surrounded themselves around Hinata, pushing Naruto out of the way. Naruto was about to yell at them, until he realised there was tension in the air. Sasuke and Neji were glaring at each other, the pearl-white eyes against the bright black ones. There was a lengthy silence, until the bell rang, which made everyone jump up and resume their conversations as they went into the school, as if nothing had ever happened. Naruto stood up, and ran after Hinata, as she was being ushered in by Neji and a few others. Sasuke smirked at the scene, as he knew the Hyuuga heir was no match for him. As he walked past Naruto, they both glared at each other. Naruto knew, he certainly knew that he was going to hate that Uchiha, and they hadn't even got into school yet.

All the new students had an assembly in the morning, to welcome them and inform the students about the schedule and system that the school follows. The first shock for the students was the headmistress, Tsunade. The boys didn't know where to look, and the girls suddenly felt very self-conscious, for Tsunade had the biggest breasts any of them had ever seen! The other teachers tried to move the assembly on, so that the kids would stop gawping at their headmistress, and so they introduced some of the teachers. Tsunade called up the first teachers,

"Iruka Umino," A man with a scar across his face and his hair tied in a ponytail stepped forward. "Iruka will be your Maths teacher, and you will call him Iruka-sensei." Iruka gave a small nod of the head, and moved to one side. "Next up, Kakashi Hatake," the students looked, but no teacher responded to that name. Tsunade sighed, "Kakashi!" A man with silvery- white hair and a mask on his face walked lazily to the front of the room. Tsunade glared at him, then continued, "Kakashi will be your English teacher," Tsunade marched over to Kakashi and ripped the little orange book he was reading, right out of his hands. Kakashi sighed, and turned to the students. "Uhh….hi?" Kakashi wasn't sure what to say to his new students, so he just strolled over to Iruka, stealing his book back on the way. Tsunade just smiled and said, "Thank you for that marvellous introduction, Hatake." There was an obvious hint of sarcasm in her voice, but Kakashi just shrugged his shoulders and carried on reading. Tsunade looked like she wanted to punch Kakashi, but she managed to refrain from doing so and called up the next teachers. After a while, the assembly was over and the students were put into their classes. Naruto was with Hinata, which was a good start, but that jerk Uchiha was in their class too. Some of the teachers weren't too sure about putting a Hyuuga and an Uchiha in the same class, but Tsunade just said they would just have to put in some extra work, and no teacher in their right mind ever argued with Tsunade. The first lesson they had was English, which, after the performance in the assembly, none of the students were too keen for. They filed into the classroom and waited to be assigned to a seat. Hinata was put next to a boy who looked like all he ever did was sleep, and when she tried to make conversation, he introduced himself as Shikamaru, and fell asleep with his head on the desk. In a way, Hinata was relieved that she didn't have to talk so much, so she was relatively happy with where she was sat.

Naruto, on the other hand, came in late as he got lost on the very short route from the assembly hall to this classroom. He arrived slightly out of breath, which caused Kakashi to raise an eyebrow.

"What did you do kid? Run around the whole school?" Kakashi smirked behind his mask as the boy glared at him. "Let me see…" He moved some papers around on his desk and looked at the register. "You must be…Uzumaki Naruto?" Naruto smiled, "Yep, that's me!"

"Well, you're over there." Naruto followed where he was pointing, and his face fell when he saw that Kakashi was pointing to the only empty seat in the room. The one next to Sasuke. Both boys protested to the teacher, but Kakashi said if Naruto saw another seat in the room, he could take it. Glaring at Kakashi, Naruto sat down next to Sasuke and silently looked to the front.

_Why me? Why does the world hate me so much that I have to sit next to him? _Sasuke silently complained. If it was anyone else, apart from that Hyuuga, at least Sasuke would have a bit more peace and quiet. But, no, Naruto had to be late and end up having to sit next to him. Sasuke could tell that this year was going to be the longest year he had ever had to face. Naruto wasn't exactly happy with the seating arrangement either, and he made it clear by slamming his bag down on the desk and glaring at Kakashi for the entire lesson. Finally, the tortuous English lesson was over – not that they learnt anything anyway – and Naruto strolled over to Hinata. He complained to her about how annoying and unfair it is that he has to sit next to 'Teme' (Hinata noticed that Naruto refers to Sasuke like that a lot), and Hinata told him how nice Shikamaru was – when he was awake. But he wasn't mean, so she was happy. The other lessons passed with hardly any problems, apart from the fact that Naruto and Sasuke ended up having to sit together in nearly all of their lessons. Neither Uzumaki nor Uchiha was very pleased with this, but they would have to put up with it for now.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters! I'm sorry if I don't update that much but I will try to as much as I can!**

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Naruto was looking forward to lunch, so that he could meet up with Haku again and they could talk about the day. He ran out of the classroom, with Hinata trying to catch up to him without actually running – Hyuugas' do have some standards you know - but she soon lost sight of her energetic friend. Naruto ran round the corner at full speed, as he couldn't wait to see his older friend again, and crashed into someone, causing them both to fall to the floor.

"Sorry! I'm so-" Naruto looked and saw who it was. He had run straight into Sasuke, who was now glaring at him like he was imagining strangling Naruto right now. "Actually…I'm really not sorry!" Naruto jumped up and ran off again, leaving the Uchiha to get up and regain control of his dignity. He swore he really was going to kill Naruto one day. With that thought, Sasuke smirked and walked off to a deserted part of the school grounds, hoping that nobody had seen that embarrassment.

"N-Naruto! Wait for me!" Hinata had cracked and started running too, but she still couldn't see him. All she saw was the Uchiha heir stalking off in the distance. Then she heard laughter and the sound of Naruto talking and ran on to find Naruto and Haku sitting on the grass, talking. Hinata arrived out of breath, and Naruto looked up in surprise.

"Oh, there you are, Hinata! We were wondering where you were!" Naruto exclaimed in an innocent voice. Hinata only glared at him slightly and sat down next to them.

"How are you two finding the school?" Haku decided to change the subject, and Naruto was perfectly happy to have someone else to complain to about how unfair he was that he had to sit next to Sasuke. Haku just smiled, knowing just how annoying classmates can sometimes be. Hinata, having heard it all before, excused herself and went to explore more of the school. She walked around to the back of the school, where she heard a noise that sounded like a dog barking. As she got nearer, she saw a rather handsome boy with res triangles on his cheek, and the little white dog she had seen him with yesterday. She would have introduced herself, but for one she was too shy, and the bell happened to ring right at that moment. Hinata hurried back to the field, where Naruto was waiting for her, and they went to their last lesson of the day. Even though Sasuke and Naruto didn't have to sit next to each other, they kept glaring at each other and silently cursing the other. As soon as the lesson was over, and the students filed out of the classroom, Naruto and Hinata were greeted by Neji and Haku. As Neji and Haku were in the same class, and it was the first day, the two older students decided to meet the younger kids and escort them home. But just as Hinata was going through the doorway, Sasuke pushed past her and tripped her up. Haku caught her just in time, as Sasuke walked off, smirking. Naruto was bristling with anger, and Neji was humiliated that Hinata would let herself be tripped so easily.

"Are you alright, Hinata?" Haku asked, concerned. Hinata nodded her head, blushing.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you, Haku." Hinata smiled at the boy, one of the sweetest smiles that Haku had ever seen. But Hinata's smile soon vanished, as she realised that Naruto had run after Sasuke. Hinata wanted to run after Naruto, to show that she wasn't as weak as everyone thought, but Neji told Hinata that her father was expecting her, so that had to leave. Haku decided he wouldn't wait for Naruto, as he knew the way back to his house, and Haku had a feeling Naruto was going to give that other boy an earful of verbal abuse, so Haku would stay out of it. He walked around the back of the school – something he always did to avoid certain boys in his class – and saw a boy in a green jumpsuit, running around the school running track near the field. Haku watched as the boy ran faster than anyone he had ever seen before; it was like watching a green flash of light. Suddenly, the boy collapsed to the ground, and as nobody else was near him, Haku ran towards the boy. As he got closer, he noticed that the boy's ankle was at an awkward and unnatural angle, which meant that the boy must be in agonizing pain. Haku reached the boy and knelt down beside him.

"Are you okay?" Haku asked, the concern in his voice was obvious. The boy had a very shiny-looking bowl cut, with eyebrows that covered almost all the boy's forehead. The look was very extreme, but Haku had never judged people by their looks, and he wasn't about to start now. The boy turned his head to look at Haku.

"Y-Yes, I am fine." The boy had a look on his face that made Haku raise an eyebrow.

"Um…are you sure? It's just that your ankle looks broken." He had to admire the boy for being so determined, but he was being delusional if he thought he was fine.

"This minor setback will not stop me from reaching my goal! If I cannot do 200 laps around the running track, it will be 200 press ups one-handed!" The boy tried to stand up to emphasise his point, but his leg buckled underneath him and Haku caught him as he fell backwards.

"I don't think that is going to be possible if you can't even stand…um…sorry…what was your name?" Haku helped the boy into a sitting position.

"I am Rock Lee, the beautiful green beast of the leaf village" He announced, "And you are?"

"My name is Haku." He replied. Lee was expecting more, but when it became clear that Haku wasn't going to give himself a big title or anything, Lee decided to speak instead.

"Um…could you, perhaps, pass me those crutches over there?" He looked like he'd been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to, and Haku realised that if these were Lee's crutches, he must be training without giving his previous wounds time to heal. But he kept these thoughts to himself, as he retrieved Lee's crutches for him. Once he was supported by the crutches, Lee began walking slowly off the running track. Haku walked beside him, making sure he wouldn't fall or anything like that. When they reached the school gates, Lee thanked Haku, and hobbled off down the left road leading away from the school. Haku stood at the gates, watching him leave, when he heard someone running up behind him. Naruto was there, sounding very out of breath.

"That…Uchiha…can run…really fast!" This made Haku laugh, and the two of them walked home after Naruto's first day at his new school.

* * *

Hinata kept thinking back to that boy she had seen near the back of the school. She could remember him almost perfectly; the strange red triangles on his face, his short brown hair and the little white dog that went with him everywhere. Hinata didn't know why he kept entering her thoughts, she didn't even know the boy's name, but she couldn't help it. Hinata was just thinking about him for the hundredth time that day, when she saw the little white run up to her and start yapping to no-one in particular, whilst scampering around her feet. Hinata laughed, for the dog looked so sweet and harmless.

"Akamaru, here boy!" the dog ran away from the girl in response to the command, and she looked up to see the boy with red marks on his cheeks crouch down to pet the small dog. He then looked up and smiled at Hinata.

"Sorry if Akamaru bothered you. He's really friendly once you get to know him." The boy was loud, like Naruto, and as he spoke, he flashed Hinata a smile that made her blush slightly.

"I'm Kiba, by the way. Kiba Inuzuka." The young boy extended a hand, and Hinata shook it delicately.

"I'm Hinata." She left out the 'Hyuuga' part, because she figured it was obvious with her tell-tale eyes. Kiba nodded, and Akamaru cautiously sniffed her hand, and then looked back to Kiba, as if to tell him that Hinata met with the small dog's approval. Kiba just laughed and lifted Akamaru into his arms.

"And this is Akamaru!" the small dog barked in response to his name. Kiba grinned, "I think he likes you!" That made Hinata blush even more, but she smiled as well.

"Hinata?" they both turned around to see Naruto strolling towards them, wearing a questioning look.

"Naruto, t-this is Kiba Inuzuka. Kiba, this is Naruto Uzumaki." Hinata gestured to each boy in turn. Naruto grinned, and greeted Kiba with a nod, which Kiba returned. This, Hinata presumed, was what boys would call a sufficient introduction. She smiled slightly as she saw that there were a lot of similarities between the two boys, such as the unruly hair and their loud but friendly personalities, and Hinata could tell that they would be great friends soon.

Suddenly, she felt a strange sensation, like they were being watched. The young Hyuuga activated her Byakugan, the special trait of the Hyuuga clan. The Byakugan allows the eyes to see through solid objects that the normal eye couldn't. She did a quick scan of the area, but saw nothing. Hinata didn't mention anything to the two boys, and they were chatting, happily oblivious as to what just happened. So the young Hyuuga tried to ignore it, and joined the boy's conversation.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters! I'm sorry if I don't update that much but I will try to as much as I can!**

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_Damn! That Hyuuga brat nearly saw me! _Sasuke Uchiha walked hurriedly back to the Uchiha compound, as he was already late. Sasuke had never been late for anything in his whole life, and now it was only because he was – anyway, that didn't matter now. All that mattered to the young Uchiha was getting into the Uchiha compound unnoticed, but that was highly impossible. Sasuke was the equivalent of a celebrity in the Uchiha household, as he was heir to the Uchiha to the compound, and he was quite a hit with the girls, to the extent that the guards had to defend the gates against a crowd of screaming fangirls on more than one occasion. But none of the girls ever caught Sasuke's interest, no matter how long they stood in front of a mirror practising. Sasuke wasn't interested in _anyone_. Well, that was a lie, but the one that Sasuke liked would never feel the same way, for a number of reasons. The young Uchiha sighed, and turned the corner to see the familiar group of screaming fangirls outside his house. Well, now he had an excuse for being late, but Sasuke wasn't sure he'd be able to get into the house to relay the excuse in the first place. The young Uchiha decided to go back around the corner before the girls spotted him, but it was too late. While he was thinking, Sasuke had managed to stand on a twig out of carelessness, which snapped and made the girls turn their heads. It was a bit creepy, because every girl turned her head at the exact same time, as if they were all controlled by one remote or something. But Sasuke didn't have time to think about that, as he was now running for his life, with the crowd of screaming fangirls pushing and shoving each other in yet another competition for Sasuke. He sped up and managed to put enough distance between him and the delusional fangirls to slow down a bit. He turned another corner and ran straight into Naruto, sending them both crashing to the floor. The collision took Naruto by surprise.

"What the hell Teme!?" Sasuke was amazed at how quickly Naruto could get angry, as the blonde boy shoved Sasuke off him.

"What are you doing?!" Naruto shrieked, clearly wanting an explanation.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Sasuke answered coolly.

"Oh yeah?" Naruto challenged, his voice gradually becoming more high-pitched. Sasuke only replied with a "Hn", and smirked, because he knew how much that annoyed the young Uzumaki. Naruto was positively fuming now, and Sasuke actually found it quite amusing. Naruto was about to start yelling something else at the young Uchiha, but the sounds of his obsessive fangirls were getting nearer, and Sasuke did the only thing he could think of in that moment. He had spotted a small, dark alleyway when Naruto was yelling at him, and now he grabbed Naruto and ran into the alleyway. Before the blonde boy tried to speak again, Sasuke covered his mouth with his hand, and pushed him up against the wall to stop him from moving. Naruto was protesting and struggling, but no matter how hard he tried, the young Uchiha was stronger than him and he couldn't move. When the fangirls had finally disappeared, Sasuke took his hand away from Naruto's mouth. Almost at once, questions started pouring out of Naruto, and Sasuke just stood silently, while Naruto carried on demanding answers from him.

"What was that about? Why were you running from those girls? Is that how you ran into me in the first place?!" questions like these continued spilling out of Naruto until, finally, he ran out of questions and fell silent.

"Finished now?" the young Uchiha was amazed at how long that took, but then again, this was Naruto. In response, Naruto only glared at him. Sasuke sighed,

"Those girls hang around outside my house every night. I try to avoid them." Sasuke told Naruto simply, but Naruto asked the most obvious and slightly offending question of all the ones he asked.

"Why?" Sasuke would have laughed at that point, for Naruto looked so genuinely confused, but he didn't reply. Instead, he thought it was his turn to ask Naruto a question.

"What are you doing here?" he also wanted to change the subject.

"I was walking Hinata back to the Hyuuga compound, and now I'm going home. Well, I was until someone decided to run into me!" Naruto glared at Sasuke again. But the young Uchiha wasn't focusing on what Naruto was saying anymore, for he was taking in the moonlight on Naruto's face, his dark silhouette and the fact that his eyes shone brightly, even in the dark. Sasuke didn't realise he was staring, until Naruto pointed it out, and so he just smirked instead, which always seemed to work as a distraction on Naruto.

"Well…I'm going to go home now. I was already late and now I'm even later than I've ever been before!" With that, Naruto slung his bag over his shoulder and walked down the alleyway. As the blonde boy disappeared round the corner, Sasuke sighed. He had nearly let his emotions take over, but that could never happen, as it would ruin everything. He went back to the Uchiha compound, and went straight to his room, after using the half-true excuse. He lay back on his bed and thought about everything that had happened that night.

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha had started noticing that a girl with pink hair and a strangely large forehead was always appearing near him. Either sitting behind him in class, or walking as close to him in the corridor as she thought would be unnoticeable. Sasuke knew she was just another fangirl who thought they could win him over, but the fact that she kept appearing everywhere was both annoying and slightly disturbing. She turned out to be one of the Hyuuga heir's friends, which meant she was also a friend of Naruto's, but that didn't make her any less annoying. Her name was Sakura; Naruto had kept yelling that one time across the field, and Sasuke had made the link. It appeared that Sakura had also joined the 'We love Sasuke' fanclub, run by Ino Yamanaka, apparently Sasuke's biggest fan. All the girls hated her because she was bossy, vain, rude and, quite frankly, a bitch. Sasuke of all people hated her, but that was understandable. What he _didn't _understand was why all the girls who were a part of her fanclub didn't go and make their own clubs, because they all pretty much disliked her too. Sakura and Ino were nearly always competing with each other, usually over him, but they never finished any challenge, because Sasuke apparently distracts them. This of course, wasn't true, as the young Uchiha always kept as much distance between him and the two girls as possible.

One day, he was eating his lunch in the deserted part of the school field, when Ino, Sakura and a couple of other girls walked up to him. He stayed where he was, but he avoided all eye-contact and carried on eating in silence.

"Hey, Sasuke!" Ino called. Sasuke ignored her, and things would've gone alright if he hadn't finished his lunch. Ino sat down next to him and then cosied up until she was unnecessarily close to him. He still didn't move though, and got out his phone instead.

"Sasuke, this is Sakura." Said Ino, who would never be put off by anything the young Uchiha did to avoid her. She whispered in his ear, but deliberately loud enough that the girls could hear too. "I think she likes you". This, of course, made Sakura jump up and start yelling at Ino, and Ino pretended she didn't know what she had done wrong. This started a huge argument between Ino and Sakura, which was a small surprise, because normally the other girls wouldn't dare stand up to Ino, but Sakura held her ground quite well. However, Sasuke's patience was wearing thin with the fangirls, so he decided to go somewhere else. After escaping the sickening calls of 'Sasuke-kun!', the young Uchiha strolled off to nowhere in particular.

Hinata and Naruto were eating their lunch with Haku and his new friend, Lee. Lee and Naruto were having a lengthy conversation about training, while Hinata and Haku sat in a companionable silence, listening to the boy's conversation. Hinata looked across at Lee, and saw that he was wearing a dark-green spandex suit with bright orange legwarmers, and he had a bowlcut and gigantic eyebrows that shadowed bug-like eyes. He was very nice though, and he bared a strong resemblance to Naruto's PE teacher, Gai-sensei. In fact, it was almost as if he were a younger version of Gai himself; they even shared the same 'youthful' personality. It made Hinata smile to think that the student and sensei could've been father and son.

Suddenly, the young Hyuuga felt the same sensation that they were being watched, like she had earlier when they met Kiba and Akamaru. This time though, the older student had sensed it too.

"Hinata," Haku whispered, but he didn't need to say any more. Hinata gave a small nod to acknowledge that she knew what Haku meant. They were about to go and find out who was watching them, when Lee suddenly jumped up.

"I WILL TRAIN WITH THE POWER OF YOUTH BURNING INSIDE ME!" There was an awkward silence and everyone on the field turned to look at Lee. The feeling vanished and Haku and Hinata knew that whoever was watching them had just made their escape. Haku was slightly annoyed at Lee for causing such a distraction, but Hinata was just curious as to who was so interested in her friends, and why. Lee sat back down again, and Naruto grinned at him.

"Lady Hinata, you are expected to see your father immediately. I was told it is urgent." Neji told her, suddenly appearing right next to her, or so it seemed.

"R-Right. Do you know what it is that's so urgent?" Hinata asked her older cousin, standing up. She was suddenly anxious, because Neji had only come bearing messages like this a few times before, and it never meant anything good.

"I'm afraid your father wouldn't tell me any more." Neji replied. Haku noticed how formally they spoke to each other, even though they were cousins. It was probably because Hinata was part of the main Hyuuga family, and Neji was from a branch family. Hinata and Neji walked back to the Hyuuga compound hurriedly, leaving Haku, Lee and Naruto alone together.

Neji showed Hinata into a room that was the study. Her father spent most of his time in this room, and Hinata and her younger sister Hanabi were only allowed in the study when their father had something urgent he wanted to speak with them about. When Hinata entered the room, she saw that Hanabi was there already; an empty seat next to her, and Lord Hiashi Hyuuga was sat opposite them, behind his ornate wooden desk. The desk had been a gift from a clan in a different land when the Hyuuga clan had helped them back on their feet again. The two clans were now great allies, and whenever one clan was in need, the other would help them through their situation. Now, it was placed in what was thought to be the most important from in the entire compound.

"Ah, Hinata. You're finally here." Hiashi shot a look at Neji to signal he could he go. Neji bowed respectfully and went out, closing the door behind him. Hiashi gestured for Hinata to sit down, then went directly to the point he wanted to make, for he was always a very direct person.

"I am well aware that you, Hinata, have been able to activate your Byakugan, and can use it well, _depending_ on the task." Hinata looked down. It was true that sometimes she was completely inaccurate on what she saw with her Byakugan, and that was a crucial part of being able to use it in battle. Even Hanabi was better than her, and she was a few years younger than Hinata. Her father continued,

"And that you, Hanabi, are excellent in combat _and _can use your Byakugan more effectively than your sister." His words may have seemed harmless to anyone else, but to Hinata, they cut like blades, because she knew that she was a disappointment to her family, but ultimately to the clan. Hanabi, on the other hand, was a lot stronger than Hinata, and had mastered the Byakugan with ease, making her the pride of the main family. She was perfect in her father's eyes.

"Hinata, you have until the end of the year to master the Byakugan as well as you should, and be able to beat Neji in combat." Hinata stared at him in disbelief.

"But Father, how am I meant to achieve that when the Byakugan takes years to fully master? And Neji is one of the best Hyuuga students we have!" Hinata tried to protest further, but Hiashi silenced her with one look.

"If you do not succeed, Hanabi will take your place as heir to the Hyuuga household." He stated. Hanabi jumped up,

"Thank you Father. I will not fail you!" She shot a mocking look at her sister, but Hiashi just sighed.

"Hanabi," He began in a stern voice, "Hinata is still the heir and she will remain in that position until the end of the year. Until then, you will treat her with the same respect you should show her now."

Hinata bowed her head sadly, for she knew that now there was only a small chance that she would remain the Hyuuga heir.

"You may leave now," Hiashi said, dismissing his daughters. Hanabi got up and bowed to her father, before walking proudly out of the room. Hinata rose more slowly, but before she left, her father stopped her.

"Hinata, I have faith in you. You can train with Neji and anyone else you feel would help you improve the most in your training." He placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "I really do want you to be the Hyuuga heir, Hinata. Do not let me down."

Hinata simply nodded her head and walked out of the room, letting all the information sink in. She was on her way to her bedroom, when Neji caught up with her.

"I hope you'll forgive me, but I overheard the conversation between you and your father. I want you to know that I had no idea about any of this, but I can help you to develop your Byakugan, if you would allow me to." Neji really didn't want to see Hinata being replaced by her younger sister. He would never admit it, but he had never like Hanabi much, as she had always treated him like dirt. But Hinata had always seen him as an equal, if not superior to her. She was polite to him and there was always kindness in her heart. Neji respected Hinata for that, and he believed that she respected Neji too.

"Thank you Neji!" For the first time since they were little, Hinata hugged Neji. The older Hyuuga was surprised, but this was how Hinata showed her gratitude. The younger Hyuuga let go of Neji, as if she had suddenly realised what she'd done.

"Um…S-Sorry Neji, this just means a lot to me." Hinata looked down, but Neji dismissed the apology, saying it wasn't necessary, and they went out to begin their training.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Naruto!**

* * *

"Do you think Hinata will come back to school again today?" Naruto asked Haku, as Lee had gone off training for the hundredth time that day.

"Neji said that whatever Hinata had to leave for was urgent, so I don't think she'll be back again today, Naruto." Haku answered the blonde boy, as it was obvious that Naruto was curious about what was so 'urgent', but he was also dreading knowing it, in case it was bad news.

"Then who am I going to walk home with? Can I walk home with you, Haku?" There was a cute, hopeful look in his eyes. Haku sighed,

"Sorry, Naruto, but I promised Lee I would help him with a project after school, so I can't." Haku looked very apologetic, but Naruto just smiled,

"Fine, I mean, it's not that far anyway, right?" That made them both laugh until they heard the bell ring for class.

* * *

_Great! English with Kakashi-sensei and that jerk Uchiha! Best lesson EVER! _Naruto still thought it was unfair that he had to sit next to Sasuke, and he made that clear in every lesson, by complaining and annoying both Sasuke and Kakashi as much as possible. It was fun for Naruto to watch Sasuke try to keep control of his temper, as Naruto could annoy him quite easily. As for Kakashi, every time Naruto went out of control, he would just sit back and read his little orange book, ignoring the chaos the blonde boy was creating. Today, the lesson was going to be just the same, and everyone knew it.

"Sorry I'm late, kids, I got lost on the path of life." Kakashi strolled lazily into the room and sat down in his chair. After an awkward silence, Kakashi put the book he'd been reading the whole time on his desk, and noticed that Naruto was unusually quiet this lesson. He and Kiba both had smug looks on their faces, and the rest of the class was guiltily silent. Kakashi sighed,

"What have you two done this time?" He looked at Kiba, then Naruto, and suddenly a loud commotion broke out between the two boys, involving statements like, 'It wasn't my fault!' and 'It was all his idea!'. It ended with both boys blaming 'it' on the other, whatever 'it' was.

"Ok…If I can't get an answer out of either of you…" He turned his head to the other side of the room. "Shikamaru, what have they done?" Kakashi knew Shikamaru would tell him, because he always said it was 'too troublesome' to lie. The lazy boy simply pointed half-heartedly to the window, and everyone turned to look. The Hokage faces had patterns in red, blue, yellow and green painted on them; no one had ever done anything like this before.

The whole class already knew, but they pretended to be shocked anyway, to avoid getting into trouble. Kakashi should've been surprised, but he just groaned.

"Let's just hope Tsunade won't look out of her window anytime soon." He sighed. He must've jinxed it, because suddenly the door slammed open, and Tsunade stood there, looking like she was ready to _kill_ somebody, with Shizune and Iruka behind her looking very disappointed.

Let's just say it ended with both Naruto and Kiba earning several detentions, and having to clean all the paint of the Hokage faces on their weekend. Sasuke smirked as Naruto and Kiba were led out of the room. Not one day goes by that Naruto doesn't get sent out of the classroom for one reason or another, although this was the most major so far. He had to admit that the 'Dobe' had made things livelier in class at first, but after a while, it just became annoying, and Sasuke had to try harder and harder to keep his temper under control. But that was mainly why Naruto was dong the pranks, and drawing attention to himself in class. Naruto was trying to make Sasuke lose his temper and retaliate, partly to get him into trouble, and also just for the fun of it. But Sasuke hadn't lost his temper yet, and he wasn't about to either. Naruto was determined to crack the emotionless mask that Sasuke wore, and Sasuke was just as determined that he wouldn't crack, because he never lost, and he was not about to lose to a Dobe.

* * *

It was the weekend, and Naruto and Kiba, supervised by Kakashi, were cleaning up the mischief they had achieved on that school day. Kakashi was reading his book, and a few people in their class yelled up to them.

"What kind of idiot pulls a stunt like that?!" The group laughed, but Naruto and Kiba just ignored them Kakashi eventually told them to move on, because surely they had better things to do at the weekend?

"They should thank us," Kiba muttered, " I mean all we're trying to do is make school more interesting, right?" He grinned.

"Partly that, but also to annoy that Uchiha!" Naruto added,

"Yeah Kiba agreed. He'd noticed that Naruto had had something against Sasuke from day 1, but that was only a bad thing when they had to work together.

"You two," Kakashi joined them quickly, "I'm going to grab some lunch. I won't be long, so don't try anything." He gave them both an all-knowing look.

"Us? Why would _we_ do anything, Sensei?" Naruto said with fake innocence. Kakashi smirked slightly behind his mask, and jumped down to join Iruka, who was waiting for him near the bottom of the cliff.

Naruto waited until they were out of sight, then grinned.

"I've had an idea." And Kiba looked at him with dread in his expression.

"What are you going to do?" He asked, but Naruto was already climbing up the 3rd Hokage's face. When he reached the carved, stone nose, he hooked his foot in a small hole on the inside of the nose, and hung upside down.

"HEY!" He yelled for the entire village to hear, "LOOK AT ME! I'M A BOOGER!"

Kiba was in fits of laughter, but the people observing just sighed and continued their weekend tasks. Naruto swung back up, and climbed back down to Kiba, who congratulated him on being 'the funniest village idiot he had ever known'. They both laughed, and then carried on washing the paint of the cliff face.

* * *

Hinata was knocked to the ground, blood trickling from her mouth.

"Lady Hinata, we can stop now if you wish," Neji looked concernedly at Hinata, for she had told him to fight her as if she were a rogue ninja, or assassin, and he was. But he didn't want to hurt her.

The young girl got to her feet.

"How will I get better if we keep stopping to take breaks?" She looked at him, slightly out of breath. "Now let's continue." She was about to attack the older Hyuuga, but Neji stopped her.

"At least let me give you some advice, Hinata. First off, you're never going to win a fight like that!" Neji proceeded to help Hinata, as they both had permission to take as many days off school as they needed. Hinata was obviously taking her father's words very seriously, because the last thing she wanted to do was disappoint Hiashi.

Neji could completely understand that, but the sight of seeing Hinata so injured touched Neji deeply. For as long as they'd known each other, Neji had never fought with Hinata; either physically or had an argument at any time.

When they were younger, Hinata and Neji used to play together all the time, and they were practically inseparable. But then, their father's had told them about the main and branch families, and although they still saw each other occasionally, they were not allowed to socialise with each other much. Neji was glad that they were still close, but seeing Hinata like this somehow affected him.

"And remember to keep the Byakugan's 'blind-spot' unidentifiable." Neji concluded, and Hinata nodded. Then they stood up, preparing to fight again.

* * *

"All done, finally!" Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, and accepted a high-five from Kiba.

"Alright, you can go home now." Kakashi told them. "Oh, and don't do something like this again, because you know you'll have to clear it up afterwards." Kakashi shook his head as the two boys – and dog – ran off to enjoy the remainder of the weekend.

The masked man sighed as he thought: _There are only so many pranks they can do. We just have to wait until they run out of ideas. _But, he realised, that was just wishful thinking.


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto ran through the village, passing the group that had made fun of them earlier, and swore at them.

This, of course, led to Naruto running from the group, laughing. They chased him all over the village, until they eventually gave up and left him alone. Naruto sat down and leaned back against the wall, breathing heavily. Ever since he was younger, Naruto had been able to run faster for longer than most of the kids his age. Every time someone challenged Naruto to a race, he would beat them, and make them buy ramen for him as a reward. Naruto smiled to himself, as he remembered beating a very popular boy once, and no one had challenged him since then.

"Is something funny?" Said a voice behind him, and Sasuke walked around to stand in front of the blonde boy.

"Where are all your beloved fans, Sasuke? I'm sure they'd love to know where you are!" Naruto loved teasing Sasuke about his annoying fangirls, and he hoped he would get a big reaction, like Sasuke finally losing his 'cool' and telling him to 'shut the hell up!', but he simply smirked. This only meant a glare from Naruto, but it didn't affect Sasuke.

"Hn…Dobe." Sasuke smirked again, because he knew that Naruto would take great offence to being called a 'Dobe'.

"Teme!" Naruto retorted, getting angry now.

"Shh…not so loud! You don't have to yell all the time, Dobe." Sasuke stared at Naruto, as if he were challenging him. Naruto stood up, and was about to say something else, when Sasuke interrupted him.

"I didn't come here to argue with you, Dobe…I want to ask you something."

Naruto was shocked.

"Me? Why me?" the blonde boy was suspicious, but Sasuke ignored him and continued.

"Do you ever feel like this village is holding you back, hiding you from a greater power that people in this village don't want you to access?"

Naruto looked up at Sasuke, who, for once, wasn't smirking or being sarcastic and mocking. For once, Sasuke was being serious, and it was creeping Naruto out.

When he didn't answer, Sasuke just shrugged.

"I wouldn't expect a dobe like you to even have those thoughts cross your tiny mind."

The smirk was back, and Naruto started yelling insults at him, but inside he was wondering what Sasuke had meant, and, ultimately, why had he asked Naruto anyway?

"There you are, Sasuke-kun!" Ino ran over to the two boys, and clung to Sasuke's arm. Naruto raised his eyebrows, but Sasuke only glared at him, then shoved Ino away from him and stalked off silently.

"Now look what you've done!" Ino looked accusingly at Naruto before running after Sasuke. Before Naruto could yell a comeback at her, Sakura came up behind him.

"Naruto…" She sounded quieter than usual, and she looked as if she was about to tell Naruto something she hadn't told anyone else.

"Naruto, I love…Sasuke and I don't know how to tell him! If I did, he would just think I was another one of his obsessive fangirls. But I really do love him!" Sakura cried out, and Naruto just stood in shock, not because he didn't know that Sakura liked Sasuke. It was actually because Sakura and Sasuke had been weirdly honest with him today, when normally they'd be fighting, arguing, and (in Sakura's case) punching too. Naruto just didn't get what was happening today, but Sasuke and Sakura weren't the kind of people who would try and prank Naruto, because that would mean working together, which Sasuke did not make a possibility.

Sakura was staring at Naruto, waiting for some advice, or even to acknowledge what she'd just said. Naruto put his hands behind his head, his trademark move for when he was trying to get out of trouble or when things just got awkward.

"Well…uh…Sakura…" Naruto honestly didn't know what to say. "This isn't really…my strong point…you know?" but Sakura only glared at him.

"I don't even know why I asked for your help anyway!" she stormed off in the other direction to Sasuke and Ino. Naruto was left feeling a bit guilty, but mainly confused as to what was up with Sakura and Sasuke.

* * *

It was English with Kakashi-sensei again, and Naruto was being his usual self – clowning around and getting into trouble for it. But Hinata didn't really mind that, as they were doing poetry, which was the Hyuuga girl's favourite topic. She had seemed a lot happier lately, despite all the stress of her current situation as heir, and even Shikamaru, who never spoke more than 5 words a lesson to anyone, had noticed a change in Hinata's behaviour. Firstly, she had started drawing little insignificant marks in the margins of her pages, (which Shikamaru would class as doodling) something she never did. Secondly, Hinata seemed to want the lesson to be over quickly, as if she had somewhere to be or someone to meet. Shikamaru even asked her once, breaking his limit of 5 words a lesson.

"You've been acting…strange lately, Hinata. Did something happen?" Hinata was rather surprised that he'd even spoken to her, but she shook her head and continued doodling. Now Shikamaru noticed she had a faint blush on her cheeks as well, but he didn't bother going any further. He knew it would just be too troublesome.

When Kakashi was lecturing them on the use of full stops, Hinata tried to pay attention, but other thoughts quickly drifted into her head making her smile. She kept looking at the clock near the front of the room and counted down the seconds until the bell went for lunch.

….…5….…4….3….2….1….

At once, all the loud boys jumped up out of their seats, grabbed their bags and ran out of the classroom. Kakashi just sighed and dismissed the rest of the class without even looking up from his little orange book. The class filed out excitedly, and were gone in seconds. Kakashi stayed in his seat, waiting for all the shouting and laughter to fade away, then he got up and checked to see if anyone was in the corridor. The coast was clear, and so he strolled over to the classroom a few doors down from his own. Instead of knocking, he opened the door and loitered in the doorway.

"Hey, Iruka." The masked man said, looking over to the desk where the maths teacher was busily marking work, and had not noticed Kakashi's entrance. At the masked man's words, Iruka lifted his head and smiled.

"Did your lesson go alright, Kakashi?" he asked, putting down the book he was marking.

"As well as usual, I guess," Kakashi replied, going over and perching on the edge of Iruka's desk. "How about your lesson?" Kakashi asked, noticing that Iruka had blushed a little at his movement.

"Well," He leaned back in his chair, "Some kids asked me why maths was so important, which led to money and going completely off the subject. Otherwise, normal too."

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. If Iruka got that annoyed about distractions from the lesson, he'd dread to think what Iruka thought of Kakashi's class.

Kakashi never used to visit Iruka at lunch, but recently it had become so frequent that it was a routine now.

"So, uh…" Kakashi broke Iruka's train of thought. "Do you want to get some ramen with me?" He asked, looking hopefully at Iruka. The question caught him by surprise, so much so that he accidentally knocked a stack off already-marked books off his desk. While the maths teacher was hurriedly apologising and blushing quite a lot, Kakashi started picking up the books. As he handed them back to Iruka, his hand accidentally brushed against his, and their eyes met for a moment.

_If only they could stay lost in this moment, forever…_

The sound of kids running past the classroom window stirred Iruka, who was the first to take his hand away. Kakashi only smiled behind his mask, as he stood up.

"I have a lot of work to do anyway." He said, taking Iruka's actions as a 'no'. "I'll see you around, Iruka." With that, Kakashi walked out of the classroom, leaving Iruka to pick up the rest of the books in a fluster. As Kakashi sauntered back to his own classroom, he thought about how close he had been to making his feelings clear to Iruka. But it would've only been awkward if they'd still gone for ramen together after that.

Iruka hadn't rejected his offer; he hadn't said anything at all. But Kakashi thought it would be better to go another time instead. After all, he didn't want to ruin the relationship they already had. He sat down at his desk and opened his little orange book, although he wasn't really paying attention to what he was reading, because his thoughts kept travelling back to brushing hands with Iruka a few minutes ago.

Kakashi sighed. He had had this 'crush' on Iruka for ages now, but he had always been a master at hiding his true emotions. That moment was the first time Kakashi had let anyone see what he really felt, and he was glad that it was Iruka who had witnessed it.

There had always been a close bond between the two teachers, but it had never been like this before. They had known each other since they were children, and neither Kakashi nor Iruka had ever felt any awkward tension between them until today. Hell, Kakashi was even there when Iruka had his most humiliating moments, and, of course, the favour had been returned many times.

* * *

Hinata was excited. This was one of the rare times in her life when she could actually enjoy it! She just hoped she would get there before Neji appeared to drag her away for more training. She quickened her pace and tripped over something on the floor. She shut her eyes as she fell – she hated the embarrassment – when she felt strong arms around her. She had expected it to be Haku, because the older boy had been there for her ever since they met. She looked up, and found she was staring into dark-brown eyes, but they did not belong to Haku.

Her heart skipped a beat as she recognised the messy brown hair, the red triangles on his cheeks, and the little dog sat on his shoulder.

* * *

**Sorry for not updating in soooooo long! i do have it planned and everything, it's just finding the time and motivation to type it up and upload it! again i apologise over and over again! and sorry its rather short! please dont hate me! please dont abandon me! (ps thanks for reviewing, criticism is much appreciated!)**


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